“It’s still a very eerie thing for me to even think about,” George Karl quietly said.

The Aurora shootings will forever loom on our state. Tonight, the Nuggets will reach out to the community, holding an exclusive scrimmage for the students, faculty and staff of Gateway High School.

More than 60 Gateway students were at the theater on July 20th – two students were shot, one fatally.

“I drive by the area every once in a while. It’s such a tough thing to get over – it’s going to take time,” said the Nuggets coach Karl, who makes his permanent home in Denver. “And when you live in the community, I’m sure there are constant reminders. Hopefully we’ll have a good time, the fans will have fun, Rocky will come and make everyone feel good. We’ll pay our respects toward what happened, and hopefully we can help each other get through it.”

In addition to tonight’s scrimmage, the school principal and Aurora mayor will receive a commemorative jersey and the Nuggets dance team will sign autographs after the scrimmage.

Chris Dempsey arrived at The Denver Post in Dec. 2003 after seven years at the Boulder Daily Camera, where he primarily covered the University of Colorado football and men's basketball teams. A University of Colorado-Boulder alumnus, Dempsey covers the Nuggets and also chips in on college sports.